Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Whatever helps the medicine go down is at times more beneficial than the cure it aids. Rest to help the weary, revolution to assist the neglected and mistreated, fire to cleanse the diseased and wanton and a purge to bring those who inflict tyrannical misery upon those they are meant to serve, all buff up the spirits of humanity but a defining way is to help the inner peace to all and in The Vagaband’s new album, Medicine for the Soul, the music is at the core of the recovery.

Awe-inspiring from its inception, gratifying from its very first beat, Medicine for the Soul is an album that is quirky, rousing and more stimulating than sitting on a keg full of piping hot coffee with a gallery full of Old Masters’ works to take in and only armed with a straw and good imagination. Stimulation is all when it comes to the seemingly all-encompassing fusion of Rock, Folk and cinematic approach and coupled with the crazy beauty that infiltrates from the much loved era of Vaudeville. It is as if the Crazy Gang had merged with the Marx Brothers, had the idea to put Syd Barrett in charge of rehearsals but turned into something epic, something that fixated upon the madcap genius that resides untapped in us all.

There is so much to love on Medicine for the Soul that it would take a dozen Mary Poppins’ armed to the teeth with packets of sweeter to enthuse any more addiction to the album’s tracks.

From the catchy to the unique, from the brave to the resounding, Medicine for the Soul is decked out in more splendour than a day out at Clacton during a Victorian Bank Holiday. Songs such as Lifted, Black Sheep, a suitably incredible cover of Ween’s Gabrielle, the wonderful Ten Bells Waltz and Cisco Wine make Vagaband one of the finds of the year.

Nobody is truly unique, not even in art but you have to congratulate those that make you feel as though uniqueness is achievable and in Vagaband, that feeling of inimitable exclusivity is to be nourished and swallowed like all good medicine, with a song in the heart and the thought of goodness to come.

Ian D. Hall